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Does anyone know anything about an L Ruttmann of Ansbach?

Don't know if he was a maker or a dealer. This is an old 16 gauge with non-rebounding hammers. I found this about 15 years ago and was attracted by its wonderful condition and modest price. But what would it cost to duplicate this handwork today? I have been loading up some blackpowder shells and my goal is to take some grouse with it this year.20160203_160247.jpg

Are there any proofmarks on the underside of the barrels? You have to push the little wedge in the foreend to the right, open the gun and take the barrels off. The proofmarks may disclose the date and the place of making. Are the barrels steel or damascus? If steel, the gun is probably post-1895. I have nothing on a L. Ruttmann or Rüttmann in Ansbach, so he was likely a contry gunshop who retailed the gun.

It has Damascus barrels. The only proof marks are the E over L G black powder proof, the provisional black powder proof, and a couple of "crown over M" proof marks which I have no clue about.
Another interesting thing is the fore end stays attached to the action when you remove the barrels. You pull the wedge and drop the front of the fore end, tip the barrels and off they come.

That's what I suspected, from the shape of the trigger guard. The ELG proofmark shows: The gun was imported from the Liege, Belgium, guntrade and merely retailed by Ruttmann.
The design with the foreend iron linked to the action bar, the barrels hooked onto the foreend, is quite common with Belgian and German Lefaucheux breech action guns. My 1893 Meffert "Hubertus" has the same arrangement.